Ideas for Action

Shannon Perez, the CRC’s Justice and Reconciliation Mobilizer is leaving this team to become the Director of the Indigenous Family Centre in Winnipeg, MB.  The justice team at the CRC is deeply grateful for Shannon’s dedication, wisdom, and skill that she brought to reconciliation in the CRC.  We chat with Shannon about highlights from her time with the Canadian Indigenous Ministry Committee and what she’s looking forward to.  

In memory of 215 Indigenous Children of Creator found in unmarked graves at a residential school in Kamloops BC, on the lands of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation.

Jesus said, Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Matthew 19:4

I remember wanting to be the OSJ Fellow for the longest time. When the Office of Social Justice visited my university, year after year, a bright, ambitious Fellow would present at a conference, talk to a class, and always be willing to answer any questions every time they stopped by the school. Having received my degree in International Development Studies, and as a lover of the church, I thought mobilizing people of faith to live more fully into their discipleship in the public realm was the highest calling I could aspire to. And so, I applied. I waited. I waited a bit more. 

In studying Bible commentaries, I came across a word “diaspora”. Historically, the word diaspora was used to describe the mass dispersion of a people from their original “indigenous” territories to different locations, in the Bible specifically the dispersion of Jews. That got me to wondering if this word “diaspora” could apply to Indigenous dispersal in North America.   

In 2018, Lauren Daigle, the sensational contemporary Christian singer, captured the hearts of many with the release of her second album, Look Up Child. There is one song in Lauren’s album, which not only brought me life, but consequently, gifted me with a renewed sense of perspective in terms of how Christians ought to respond when it comes to the issue of the death penalty, and that is the opening song of the album – “Still Rolling Stones.” 

In our world today there are over 80 million people who have been forcibly displaced from their homes, including 26.4 million refugees. In my last post I mentioned that less than 1% of refugees are resettled through a formal refugee resettlement program in one of 37 formal resettlement countries yearly, but in 2020 that number dipped down to the lowest in recorded history.

True confession: I lack rhythm. Somewhere between what my ears hear and how my hands clap, my feet tap, and the rest of my body moves, the beat gets distorted. It’s like watching a video with delayed, out-of-sync audio. Nothing lines up the way it’s supposed to. 

The Bible has many references to the word “hope”. There is one verse in particular that buoys those of us who are called to end the climate crisis. Isaiah 40:31 says, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.” I think that passage says that those who are hopeful that God is working in the world to protect God’s creation will not grow weary, but will engage in their work vigorously.

 Once it is gone, it is gone. If a child breaks a toy or if you inadvertently burn a letter to you from your grandmother, it is gone. It doesn’t come back.

The world has a very special asset, located in Alaska, that might face that same plight. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a breathtaking parcel of God’s creation. It has unique wilderness qualities and ecological integrity.